Soybeans have
found their way into an eye-opening array of foods. Starting with the basics,
there's soy milk, used in infant formulas. And the familiar Oriental staple
tofu, soybean curd, is made by coagulating soy milk. But also consider soy
yogurt, soyburgers, soy loaf, and soy sausage. Soy oil is the most widely used
edible oil in the United States; you'll find it in mayonnaise, salad dressing,
process cheese products, dessert frostings, and much more.

Soy components such as protein and oil are
ingredients in dozens of everyday foods-from the granola bar you eat for
breakfast and the potato chips at lunch, to a late-night sandwich. And,
attention chocoholics! You'll be hard put to find a chocolate treat that lacks
soy lecithin.

Most soybean varieties have the Agricultural
Research Service in their pedigree. Between 1980 and 1994 alone, agency
scientists released 66 varieties and 280 breeding lines.

Thanks to ARS research, soybeans have been
incorporated into a host of nonfood products. These range from your morning
newspaper printed with soy oil-based ink to lipstick, plastics, flooring,
paints, and stain-removing cleaners.

What more can we make of the soybeans? At one
ARS lab, we're cloning soy's genes for proteins, with an eye to improving its
nutritional quality. At another, we're trying to learn how stress factors such
as drought and heat affect the plant's ability to flower. (Fewer flowers mean
fewer beans, of course.) And we're breeding specialized soybeans galore to
tailor soy-based products for every niche, from the supermarket to the export
market!